Moving On
by Orbala
Summary: Three and a half years have gone by since Sarah left Chuck and his family behind. Now she's back and she finds herself having to get reaquainted with those she left behind.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay…This is my first story ever… Constructive criticism is appreciated. Flaming, on the other hand, is not. So please don't. One more thing, I don't own anything except for my own characters.

--

'It's been a while' thought Sarah Walker as she walked into the apartment complex in Echo Park, Los Angeles. She stood there a minute looking around, reminiscing about times long gone. She walked past that familiar window that she, Casey, and Chuck used, not often but enough. Through the window she could hear music playing but the sound was muffled by the closed window. She didn't know what to expect as she stepped up to that very familiar door that she had been a frequent user of three and half years ago.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered and knocked on the door.

"Hold on one second," Sarah heard someone shout from behind the door.

After what seemed like forever, the door finally opened.

"I thought I told you girls that we didn't want any cook…" the women who opened the door began to say but stopped as she saw who was at the door.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah Ellie it's me." Sarah said, somewhat awkwardly.

"What…Why are you… Wow, ya know I never thought I'd see you around here again," Ellie said rather coldly.

Sarah backed away a little and looked down, feeling a bit awkward. She didn't remember what her cover was for leaving until just now.

"Ellie, I…"

Sarah was about to say something but was interrupted by a small child, no more the three years old. The boy had short brown hair and was wearing pajamas with cartoon animals all over them.

"Mommy!! Can I have my juice now?" the little boy pouted. He turned his head to look at who his mom had been talking to. "Mommy, who's that?"

"Not now Jerry. Sarah why are you back here? More specifically, why are you here on my doorstep?" Ellie asked apparently very suspicious.

"What? Can't I visit old friends without having an agenda?" Sarah asked with a bit of ice mixed in.

"Sarah? Mommy isn't that the name of the girl Uncle Chuck really liked but then went away leaving Uncle Chuck really, really sad?" Jerry asked his mother.

"Yes this is the girl who crushed your uncle's heart." Ellie turned back to Sarah, "So why are you here?" with the same iciness as before.

'Crushed Chuck's heart? What happened after I left? What did he tell them? I thought he was okay with what had to happen.' Sarah thought.

"Work. I resigned from my last job and decided to come back out west. Ya know, to see if I could find a job," she said. "I also wanted to see you guys again. No matter what happened before, I still wanted to be friends."

Another voice joined them, "Hey babe who's at the door?" It was Captain Awesome. If he was surprised to see Sarah, he sure did hide it well. "Oh, hey Sarah," was all he said.

"Hey Devon," Sarah said.

Awesome nodded acknowledging that he heard her. "Why don't you come in and we can talk without air-conditioning the entire complex. Ellie, honey do you mind?"

Ellie didn't look happy. Sarah stepped in and started walking towards the living room. Jerry grabbed her hand and started talking to her, clearly very excited to meet someone new.

"Even though you hurt Uncle Chuck pretty bad before, he still says nice things about you. He said that the time he spent with you was the most fun he'd had since umm…. Uhhh…" Jerry said. "Mommy, Daddy, where did Uncle Chuck say he'd had the most fun before Sarah?"

Ellie answered. "Stanford."

"Right, thank you Mommy! He said his fun ended there for a while because his 'roomy;' Uncle Chuck called him that; got him kicked out for cheating. But my uncle doesn't cheat on anything! He's the best! He's 'awesome!'"

Sarah, whose lips curved into a goofy smile, looked up at Devon. He was standing there smiling at his son, whether it was because he was talking so much to a new person or because he said "awesome" Sarah couldn't guess.

Sarah looked back down at Jerry "And where might your 'awesome' uncle be?"

"Oh!" Jerry started. "He's at work. Do you want to see him?" Jerry asked.

"Yes I would very much like to see him," she smiled at the child.

"Okay cool. When you go get him, tell him to pick up Emily and bring her over."

"Emily?" Sarah asked, looking up at Ellie and Devon.

"Jereko Tyler Woodcomb! It's late! I'll talk to your uncle and see if he can bring Emily over tomorrow." Eliie said to her son then turned to Sarah. "Sarah go talk to Chuck, he'll explain everything."

"Oh okay umm…. Where is Chuck anyway?" Sarah asked.

"He moved out a month or so after you left for your more exciting life." Ellie's iciness returned.

Sarah was slightly taken aback. "Where is he then?"

"He's where all this started. That is if you even remember that far back." Ellie said coldly.

"Okay, I'll go see him then. It was nice to see you again, no matter what you might think." Sarah gave Ellie a sad smile and turned to Jerry, "It was very nice to meet you, Jerry."

"Bye, bye. I hope to see you again." He said with a big smile.

"See ya around sometime Sarah," Devon said.

Ellie just stood there and didn't say a word to Sarah as she walked out.

"Ellie I really hope we can be friends again," Sarah said, meaning every word of it.

"Mhm, we'll see," was Ellie's response.

As Sarah walked back to her car she kept thinking about what Jerry had said. Who was Emily? A girlfriend? Wife? These thoughts kept rushing through her head. She arrived at her car and got into it. It was a new car. A Nissan 350z. She decided that her Porsche wasn't economically efficient. The 350z was a short step down but had better mileage. She started the car and drove off. As she did, the roads became more familiar as she drove to "the place this all started." She got on the expressway and headed toward the Buy More.

--

Sarah entered the Buy More and started to look for Chuck. Typically he was at the Nerd Herd station with his head down. As she approached she could hear him muttering something about how this was the worst night ever.

"Hi! My phone is giving me trouble, could you please help me?" she said to him as enthusiastically and as dramatically as she could.

Chuck tensed up a bit and sat up not looking at Sarah. "Morgan I thought I told you to stop that when Sar…" He turned his head to look at his customer and jumped straight up. "Sarah!?"

She laughed out loud at his reaction. "Yeah Chuck, it's me," she said, laughing.

"Wha…Wha…What are you doing here?" his voice shocked and suspicious.

"What a friend can't visit her friend when she wants to? And here I thought we were living in a free country." Sarah said in a mock hurt tone.

"Well considering our history I'm gonna have to go with no." Chuck said, clearly not amused.

"Can we go somewhere private to talk?" Sarah asked.

"Sure, follow me."

Sarah followed Chuck into the manager's office. When he sat down at the desk, she gave him a confused look.

"Oh I got promoted! Big Mike left for Large-Mart a little over a year ago." Chuck clarified. "So what bring you back? Is something wrong? Am I in danger? Why would I be in danger? I'm no longer the Intersect anymore…" Chuck kept on babbling.

Sarah smiled inwardly to herself, the more things changed, the more they stay the same I guess. "Chuck calm down! It's nothing like that!" she laughed.

"Oh well then… Why?"

"Short story is I was suspended indefinitely pending a performance review that will determine my fate in the CIA." Sarah breathed.

"And the long version?"

"I don't want to talk about that right now, please. Let's do something, get reacquainted."

"Like a date? Sarah I can't tonight I have plans at home. These plans are nowhere near negotiable."

Sarah's face had visibly fallen. 'With this Emily person no doubt.' "Okay, I shouldn't have assumed you didn't have plans. I guess I just expected to find this place just like when I left it. Wishful thinking maybe. I don't know."

"Do you have a place to stay?" Chuck asked sincerely.

"Not yet, but I think I should go out and look for a hotel. It is getting pretty late."

Chuck looked thoughtful for a few moments then said: "Why don't you crash at my place for the night? Sarah gave him a look clearly said 'Are you kidding?' "Don't give me that look. I'm serious it's no problem I have an extra bedroom."

"I don't know Chuck, I don't want to intrude on anything special planned you have for tonight." Sarah said, appearing crest-fallen for a split second.

"No I insist. Stay at my place tonight and when you're all rested up you can go out and look for a place to stay until your "fate" is decided."

Sarah smiled a little. 'Always looking out for people' she thought. "All right then, when do you get off work?"

Chuck's smile broadened as he looked at his watch. "I got off ten minutes ago right after you walked in. Lester will handle closing."

"Lester?" Sarah looked at Chuck wondering what Lester had to do with anything.

"Yeah, when I got promoted to manager, he got promoted to Ass. Man." Chuck's smile grew bigger at that comment.

Sarah gave him a funny look and smiled at his immaturity. "Lester? Assistant manager? Really? Wow."

"Yeah I was a little surprised too. So we gonna get moving?" Chuck asked.

"Yep, let's go." Sarah said, somewhat uncharacteristically over excited.

As they walked out Chuck realized something. "How did you know I still worked here? I mean it's been what? Three and a half years now? Have you been spying on me?" Chuck joked flirtatiously, waggling his eyebrows as he asked.

Sarah looked at him incredulously. "Chuck Bartowski, what possible reason could I have for spying on you?" she played along.

"Oh I don't know. Just to see if your fake ex-boyfriend was doing fine after it all ended." Chuck said, smirking.

"As much as I'd have liked to spend resources keeping tabs on you, I had bigger fish to fry."

"Wait! So you would have spent them if you could have! Oh this is great!" he said poking fun at her.

She narrowed her eyes at him, playfully glaring. "You led me into that one. I can count on one hand the people who cornered me like you just did."

Chuck gulped and became nervous all of a sudden but became relieved when he saw her grinning goofily back at him.

When they made it to his car, a Toyota Prius, Sarah and Chuck agreed that she would follow him.

"You still have that Porsche?"

"No I sold it and got a Nissan 350z."

"Always gotta have the sports cars huh?"

She just smiled at him and left for her car.

--

The drive to his place was about ten to fifteen minutes long. When she got out of her car she looked at his house in surprise. It was two floors tall with a decently sized front lawn and had a driveway leading into a garage that looked big enough to fit two cars. Chuck opened it up and motioned for her to follow him in. The garage fit their cars perfectly. Chuck closed the garage door and then motioned for Sarah to follow him into his home.

"Home sweet home." He smiled at Sarah.

All of a sudden, Sarah heard light footsteps dashing from somewhere in the house coming towards them. Sarah was ready for some sort of attack. It was dark in the room and she was waiting for something to happen. All of a sudden the lights turned on and a figure was jumping at Chuck.

"Daddy!!" the little girl shouted.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry, it took a little longer than I thought it would to get this up… My beta was being difficult. Here's chapter 2. Just a heads up, the end of this chapter is very emotional…I own nothing.

--

The child's voice rang out again while in Chuck's arms, "Daddy! I missed you!"

When Sarah realized they weren't about to be attacked, she soaked in what happened and she was completely dumbfounded. 'Daddy? Chuck? I guess a lot more has changed than I thought.' She looked at the child in Chuck's arms. She couldn't have been more than two years old. 'I guess Chuck didn't waste any time.'

Sarah started looking around. The room seemed to be an office crossed with the ideal set-up for a video game buff. The room itself wasn't that big; near the door to the rest of the house was where everything was set up. There was a decently sized LCD screen with an attached Xbox 360. Attached to that were several guitars and a drum set.

Sarah was taken from her meanderings by Chuck's voice. "Hey Emmy! I missed you too!" He turned to look at Sarah with Emmy in his arms, "Emmy I want you to meet my old friend Sarah. Sarah this is my daughter, Emmy," Chuck announced his daughter with obvious pride.

Emmy looked at Sarah. Sarah felt as if the little girl was reading her mind, studying her soul. All of a sudden Emmy's face went from being completely neutral to, what looked to be, the look one get when they have an epiphany. Emmy let out an excited squeal and turned to Chuck.

"It's that girl from that picture! The one where she looks like that princess from that silly movie about the stars. You know that one girl you always say you wanna see again."

Chuck's face went red. Sarah smiled and tilted her head as if asking him 'what picture?' He caught the look and answered, "Star Wars. The Halloween after we first met. Remember?" His face was a nice shade of pink now.

Sarah's mouth turned into an "o" then into a smirk. "You kept that after all this time?"

Chuck gave her a nervous smile. "I put it in a photo album sometime after I moved out of Ellie's place."

"Ah ha," was all Sarah said.

More footsteps were heard coming down the stairs now. It was a teenage girl. "Hey Chuck. How's it going?" She looked at Sarah. "Who's your lady friend?" She asked the last question with a smirk.

"Hey Jess. Things are good. Can't complain too much. This is Sarah, an old friend of mine." Chuck replied.

"From Stanford?"

Chuck shook his head. Jess turned to look at Sarah. "Hi, I'm Jess. Nice to meet you." She stuck her hand out.

"Nice to meet you too," Sarah said, accepting the handshake.

Jess turned back to Chuck and Emmy. "Hey Chuck I have to get going. I still have a butt-load of homework to do." Jess looked directly at Emmy. "Emmy I'm going now, I hope you had fun tonight. Maybe someday you'll put those skills I taught you to good use." She gave Emmy the thumbs-up.

Emmy got excited. "I will. Don't worry. Can I show Daddy what we did tonight?"

"Sure you can, you can show your daddy anything that you want him to see." Jess said. Chuck gave her a 'what's going on' look. "I was teaching Emmy how to paint. Don't worry I brought my own finger paint. Emmy here bolted from her room when she heard your office door open. Leaving me to clean everything up!" She said with a hint of playful sarcasm.

Emmy laughed and dove into her dad's chest. Which made everyone in the room laugh.

"Alright well I'm leaving now. It was nice to meet you Sarah. Chuck, give me a call if you need to me to babysit Emmy. Don't worry about walking me out, I think I can handle it." Jess said, smiling.

"Will do. Have a good night," Chuck said.

With that, Jess left. The front door closed about a fifteen seconds after she walked away from them.

"I don't know about you two but I'm starving. How about I make something for everyone?"

Sarah raised her eyebrows, "What can you make Chuck?"

"I'll ha…" He was cut off by Emmy.

"Daddy can make anything! As long as it's peanut-butter and jelly," she said giggling like crazy. Sarah laughed with her.

"Well I happen to make the _best_ PB&J this side of Los Angeles. So you interested? I know you are," looking at Emmy.

"Yeah! This is what I was waiting for all day!" Emmy said genuinely excited about spending time with her dad.

Sarah smiled at Emmy's enthusiasm as well as her innocence.

Chuck grinned, "Well it's settled then, Sarah you want in too 'cause this offer won't last long." There was a hint of playfulness in his voice.

"I don't know PB&J has never really been my thing…" she whined playfully.

Chuck was about to add something but Emmy got the last laugh. "Sarah!! You have to try Daddy's sandwich! It is the best ever!"

Sarah grinned. "Well I'm convinced, Chuck I would love to have one of your sandwiches."

"Yay!" Emmy exclaimed. "Daddy can you put me down now? I'm getting hot."

"Sure thing." Chuck put Emmy down and she ran to regions unknown inside the house. Chuck turned to Sarah, "Shall we?"

"Yes I think we shall. Lead the way."

"Time to play tour-guide." Chuck said.

He led Sarah from his office into a hallway which Sarah assumed led everyone on this floor. Going towards the front of the house, they passed an open door on the right; there were stairs that led down to the basement. The dining room was next up on their left. Turning right they walked through the foyer and into the living room.

"Well this looks familiar," Sarah said turning to Chuck. His living room looked remarkably like Ellie's. It had the same layout and overall feel to it. There was another, bigger LCD screen mounted on the wall. He gave her a smile and they continued on.

Behind the living room was the kitchen. Emmy was already there getting everything ready for Chuck to make his 'world famous' PB&Js.

"Thanks for the help, sweetie. I can handle it from here. Why don't you take Sarah into the living room while I make the sandwiches? You two can get to know each other better." Chuck smiled.

"Ooooo good idea Daddy! Come on Sarah!" Emmy whined the last part and started tugging on Sarah's arm.

"Okay! Okay! I'm coming." She laughed and then looked at Chuck, "Don't make us wait too long for the food."

Chuck just stood there with a silly grin as he watched his daughter pull Sarah into the living room.

Emmy sat Sarah down right in front of the TV. Emmy grabbed the remote and turned it on.

"Do you wanna watch anything Sarah?" Emmy asked looking hopeful.

"I dunno. I haven't had a lot of time to watch TV so I don't know what's on anymore. Why don't you pick?" Sarah suggested.

Emmy's face went from hopeful to beaming in seconds. Sarah noticed Emmy had Chuck's smile.

"Okay ummm…. How about this movie? It's my favorite!" It was _Aladdin_.

Sarah smiled "Okay, I know that one. Let's watch!"

Emmy jumped up and stuck the DVD in the player. Just as the movie was about to start Chuck showed up with their dinner.

"Looks like I came just in time huh?"

"Shh!!" Sarah and Emmy said in unison. Chuck mock-huffed and sat down next to Sarah. Emmy hopped into his lap as the movie began.

--

About halfway through the movie, Chuck realized that Emmy had fallen asleep. His watch read 9:30. He nudged Sarah and pointed at the TV. She got the hint and turned off the movie. Quiet as he could, Chuck picked Emmy up and started towards the stairs. He motioned for Sarah to follow. They went up the stairs and into Emmy's room. Her room, Sarah noticed, was like most 2 year old girl's room. The walls were pink and there were scores of stuffed animals lying around the room. Emmy's bed however was sky blue.

Chuck placed Emmy on her bed and tucked her in. He looked at Sarah who was still looking around the room.

"She wants to paint it blue," Sarah looked at Chuck, confused. 'The room, Emmy wants to paint it. We were aiming to do it this weekend."

Sarah smiled and motioned for them to leave. Chuck kissed Emmy on her forehead and whispered "Sweet dreams." He turned on the nightlight, turned off the main light, and closed the door. Sarah and Chuck walked back downstairs.

"So what do you wanna do now?" Chuck asked.

"I'd like to make sure that you weren't lying to me about the Halloween picture," Sarah smirked.

Chuck sighed, "If you wanted to look at pictures you could have just said so instead of coming at it sideways." Chuck said sarcastically.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure if you'd let me," Sarah said with a small smile.

"Sometimes, Sarah, it's better if you launch a frontal assault instead of flanking your target."

Her eyebrows rose a little, "So, I see that you picked up something from John Casey's _Book of Military Puns_."

"Well it's hard not to have a little of him rub off on you. The man was snarky about 85 of the time and you know what they say 'fight fire with fire.'"

"I never understood that line. Anyway, where are the pictures?" Sarah asked excitedly.

Chuck gave her an odd look then went to get the pictures. "What? Can't a girl be interested in what her closest friend has been up to these last few years?"

Chuck gave her another weird look then said, "I'm your closest friend? What about Casey? Or Bryce?"

Sarah stiffened a little, "Being a spy has one major downside. Most of them don't have too many friends, if any at all. I haven't seen or heard from Casey since our reassignment after then mission with you was done and Bryce and I have drifted apart a lot in recent months. So yeah Chuck, you're my closest friend."

"Sarah, I'm sorry. I just assumed…" He got cut off.

"It's okay Chuck, you couldn't have known how hard it is to have a relationship with an active agent."

Chuck gave her a sad smile and muttered, "I think I know enough." Then, "Ah ha! Here it is!" He pulled out an album and brushed off the tiny amount of dust that had accumulated. "Come on, let's sit down. Looking at pictures while standing is no fun."

Sarah smiled and led them to the couch where they watched _Aladdin_.

"Alright let's take a look," Sarah said.

For the next hour or so they flipped through pictures and would talk about some and laugh at others. Sarah finally saw Emmy's mother, Laura. She had brown hair and strikingly green eyes. 'She's very pretty' Sarah thought. Chuck started to explain everything, how they met and everything after.

"We met about two months after you left, predictably, at the Buy More when she came up to the Nerd Herd desk and asked me to fix her phone."

Sarah laughed, "Apparently you have more luck there then when Ellie throws a party for just that reason."

"Apparently. When she came back the next day, I asked her out and she said yes, obviously. We went through all the motions, you know, dinner with family, Nights of Morgan, the whole she-bang. We fell in love. But about five months after we met, we ran into a crisis. I got Laura pregnant. The next few weeks were depressing for both of us because she thought I would run out on her. I, with a little help from Ellie, Awesome, Morgan, and Anna…" Sarah cut him off at this point.

"Wait, Anna Wu?"

Chuck blanched, "Oh right I completely forgot to tell you that Morgan and Anna settled down four months ago. They had a judge come to their house and marry them. We were all there. There are pictures but we haven't gotten to them yet."

Sarah looked shocked, "Wow I never thought that things could have changed so drastically within that amount of time."

Chuck smiled knowingly, "Life goes on. Anyway, with their help I was able to convince Laura that I wouldn't run away from her, not that Ellie would have allowed it otherwise." Chuck smirked a little at some memory. Sarah smiled a little too.

"What happened next?"

"I proposed! I didn't do it immediately after she accepted that I wasn't going anywhere. I waited a couple of weeks until I was sure she was comfy. She accepted. She didn't want to wait long, we got married a month and a half after I proposed. Life went on. Emmy was born on September 16th the year after you left. Life went on. Then, just before Emmy's first birthday, Laura got sick. We took her to the hospital where…" Chuck's eyes started to glisten and he looked away from Sarah.

Sarah grabbed his hand, "Chuck you don't have to finish if you don't want to."

Chuck looked at Sarah, stray tears flowing down his face, "No I want to tell you this. This is the first time I've talked about it since it happened. I need to do this."

Sarah nodded and gave him a reassuring smile. "Okay Chuck, I'm here for you."

"Laura was diagnosed with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, a malignant form of lung cancer. There was nothing they could do. They gave her less than a month. It was the hardest experience I've ever gone through."

Sarah started to cry. She felt horrible because he felt horrible. It hurt her that a man like Chuck, always caring, always happy, had to experience the death of his wife when their lives together were just getting started.

Chuck continued, "The night before she passed she saw me holding her hand, crying my eyes out. She knew she didn't have a lot of time left and said to me 'Chuck, it's all going to be okay. Take care of Emmy because she's the best thing that happened to me. She brought us together and that will never change. You'll always have her. Be strong for her, teach her right from wrong. Goodnight Chuck, I love you.' She fell asleep after that. Around 3:15 that night, she passed away. I went home and told Emmy after she had woken up and had something to eat. I told her 'Mommy's not coming home. She's moved on.' When she understood what I meant, she cried, and I held her, told her that everything was going to be okay, even though I didn't believe it at the time. She cried herself to sleep that night. It was hard, the first few months without Laura. I was battling bouts of depression while Ellie and Awesome babysat for Emmy. But I had to be strong for her, I had to man up and live in the present. And it's worked so far. But, God Sarah, it's been so hard. I miss her so much!" He finally broke down.

Sarah wrapped him in a hug. It broke her heart to see him this way. She couldn't help but cry with him. They fell asleep on the couch, holding each other.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Here's Chapter 3 for you guys to sink your teeth into… Just to clear one thing up, the kids in my story speak so well because I'm taking into account how technological America really is. I don't know statistics but it seems logical that kids are learning how to speak correctly because of TV shows like Sesame Street and Barney. Not to mention all the movies directed towards little kids. Anyway, enjoy!

--

Sarah woke up feeling safe and warm. She was cuddled up to someone, she realized. Then she was very confused, 'Who am I with?'She heard an odd song playing from somewhere nearby. "I love you, you love me, we're…" Sarah shot straight up. And then fell off the couch.

"Ahhhhh!" someone screamed.

"Wazzgoinon?" another said sleepily.

Once Sarah caught her breathe, last night came flooding back to her. She was at Chuck's house with Chuck and his daughter, Emmy. 'I must've fallen asleep holding Chuck after that emotional rollercoaster ride he took us on,' Sarah thought. She felt a hand on her back.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah I'll be fine, just got a little confused about where I was," Sarah replied and turned to look at Emmy sitting on the floor looking up at her. "I'm sorry sweetie, I didn't mean to scare you."

Emmy just nodded. "You acted just like that big, scary guy on that fighting show. Daddy, you know, that show that Jerry watches with Uncle Awesome." Sarah flashed a big smile at how Emmy talks about Devon. Chuck noticed and smiled in response.

"Uncle Devon, Emmy. Uncle Devon." Chuck smiled, "And the guy you're thinking about is the Undertaker."

"I don't get why boys like watching people getting beat up," Emmy said.

"Me neither. Why is that Chuck?" Sarah asked, playing around.

"Oh well it has a lot to do with…umm…Us guys like too…" Chuck stammered to find a good reason. "Who wants coffee? I know I do," He got up and walked over to the kitchen.

Emmy sat there giggling at her father. Sarah smirked at the whole scene and sat back on the couch. "Chuck, give me one too."

"'Kay."

Emmy was back to watching her TV show. There was a big yellow bird on the screen.

Sarah's attention shifted to Emmy. She explained all about Sesame Street and the characters that live there. Sarah was listening to Emmy's speech, apparently very interested. Chuck handed her a cup of coffee and sat down next to her. Sarah took a sip. 'He remembered how I like it' she thought, smiling to herself.

For the next ten or so minutes they listened to Emmy talk about what was happening on the TV. Absently, Sarah rested her head on Chuck's shoulder. He began making circles with her hair. When Emmy finished she looked at the two on the couch and smiled. Sarah heard Chuck mutter an "uh oh" and he put down his cup. Sarah followed his lead, not sure what was about to happen. Emmy hopped onto her feet and jumped onto them.

"Emmy!" Sarah whined playfully and then began to tickle the little girl. Emmy was wriggling around and laughing the whole time. Sarah was laughing too. She looked at Chuck, who just sat there with the biggest smile ever. Sarah wondered what exactly made his smile so big.

When she finally broke away from the intense tickle session, Emmy lunged at her dad. There was a "whoa!" and then lots of laughter. Emmy had managed to knock Chuck over, whether he fell over on purpose was lost on Sarah. She laughed at how silly the scene in front of her was and then just sat there, looking at Chuck play with Emmy. 'I wish I had that,' she heard herself think. Her face then turned red and she stood up.

Chuck noticed, "What's wrong?"

'He always senses when something is going on with me, doesn't he?' Sarah thought. "Yeah everything's fine. Umm… I'm going to get my stuff out of the car and take a shower if that's okay with you."

Chuck gave her an odd look before saying, "Okay but don't take too long 'cause other need to use it too." He smirked.

"'Kay. I'll be done in a jiffy."

"I'll hold you to that."

--

After everyone was done going through their morning routines, Sarah noticed Chuck walking down the stairs. His hair was still wet from the shower. Emmy was lying on the couch watching some cartoon. Sarah turned back to her project.

"Are those eggs I smell?" Chuck asked like it was impossible.

Sarah looked at him over her shoulder, "What? We each have our own cooking skills. I've been making eggs since I was a kid." Chuck eye's narrowed and his look asked 'Should I believe her?' Sarah sighed, "Trust me Chuck, you're gonna miss out if you don't have some."

Chuck smiled and said, "How much longer? I'm starving!"

"Maybe you should have had more than that PB&J for dinner," Sarah smirked.

"Maybe… Emmy! Breakfast is almost ready. Get your little butt over here!" Chuck called.

"Aww… Daddy! Dora's about to tell me what bye-bye was in Spanish!" Emmy whined.

"Tell you what kiddo," Sarah interrupted. "I'll tell you whatever Spanish you want to know if you come eat with your dad and me."

"Really? You talk Spanish?" Emmy asked, obviously very excited.

"Yeah! Come on, your eggs and toast are getting cold," Sarah stated.

"Coming!"

All through breakfast, Emmy asked Sarah to translate all kinds of words and phrases. Sarah was relieved because everything she was asked of her was very simple to translate. 'For a near-two-year-old, Emmy is very bright,' Sarah thought. Chuck jumped in to add something every now and again but he let Sarah chat with Emmy.

The phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Emmy hollered.

"Decibels, Emmy, watch your decibels." Chuck joked.

Emmy gave him a weird look but continued her mission. She took the chair she was sitting on during breakfast and brought it over to the counter. She hopped on and grabbed the phone and answered the call.

"Auntie Ellie!... I'm doing good… Good. Auntie, I want to tell you about my new friend!... Yeah her name is Sarah. She came home with Daddy last night…. She's here…. She slept over…. Daddy! Auntie Ellie wants you!"

Chuck looked at Sarah who was looking a little worried. He went over to Emmy and took the phone.

"Hey Ellie…. What? No! Ellie!... Everything's fine! There's nothing to worry about!..." He sighed. "El, trust me. Nothing happened…. I know, Sis…. Love you too…. Oh right! Yeah, definitely we'll be there." He turned away from Emmy and Sarah and in a hushed tone said, "Is it alright with you if I bring Sarah?... 'Kay, Sis…. See ya later."

He turned back to the table, smiling. Sarah looked up at him, hopeful. "We're all going to meet up at Ellie's place at one for a picnic on the beach," Chuck said.

Emmy jumped up and down in her seat, "Yay! I love picnics with Auntie Ellie! She makes the best food!"

"You got that right, sweetie." Chuck held up his hand in 'high five' position. Emmy hit his hand and then giggled.

"You so silly Daddy."

"I know," Chuck's smile could have lit up the world in that moment. At least that's what Sarah thought.

Chuck turned to her, "You wanna come along? It'll be fun. The Bartowski/Woodcomb/Grimes clan's Random Picnic never disappoints."

"I don't know, Chuck. Ellie wasn't exactly very happy to see me yesterday."

Chuck's eyebrows went up, "You went by Ellie's yesterday? Oh so that's how you found me! I just thought you guessed where I was. I take it that means you've met the Woodcomb's then?"

"Yeah, Jerry was awfully nice to me. He loves to meet new people it seems like. And Devon really hasn't changed."

"Yeah… So are you coming?"

"I…" Sarah was cut off.

"Saraaaahhh! You have to come! It's so much fun! Last time we went to the beach and Uncle Awesome and Daddy made a fire in the ring and Uncle Morgan's pants caught on fire. It was so funny! He runned into the water and Daddy went after him."

Sarah's jaw dropped and she snapped her head to look at Chuck, who was chuckling. His face turned serious instantly.

"He didn't get hurt! And even if he did how badly could it have turned out? There were two trained, professional doctors on the beach ready for action when the first 'OH MY GOD!' was shouted."

Sarah loosened a little bit and turned to Emmy. "In that case, how could I possibly resist?" 'Looks like I can't resist when Emmy tries to convince me,' Sarah thought.

"Yay!" Emmy said, smiling.

"Great! We move out in an hour." Chuck said, excited.

Sarah turned to him again, eyes narrowed. "Don't you have work, mister?"

"Day off. It's good to be king…err…boss," he smirked.

--

They took the Prius to Ellie's. The ride over was uneventful. Sarah looked a little uneasy the whole way over. She was tense and apprehensive. Ellie did a very good job of shaking her up it seemed. When they got there, everyone shuffled out of the car. Sarah took longer than the other two. She stayed behind Chuck and Emmy as they practically dashed to the apartment door. Well, Emmy dashed, Chuck just jogged to keep up with his daughter. When the door was right in front of her, Emmy hammered on it. Both Sarah and Chuck smiled at her enthusiasm. The door swung open.

"Who's destroying my door?!" Ellie yelled, mock-angry. She looked down at Emmy who was beaming brightly. Ellie's face took on the same expression as her niece. "How are you!?" she asked as she scooping Emmy up into her arms.

Emmy giggled, "I'm good, Auntie."

"Just good?" Ellie gave her a look.

"I'm great!" Emmy corrected.

Ellie laughed, "Awesome. Hey Chuck. Sarah. Come in."

Right as Ellie crossed the threshold, there was a loud bang from inside and, what sounded like, very fast, yet light, footsteps immediately following the bang.

"Uncle Chuckle!" Jerry screamed as he jumped at Chuck.

Just before impact, Sarah heard Chuck mutter 'Oh God' and then get winded by the child. Sarah laughed out loud at that.

"Hey Jerry. Your dad teaching you some football moves?" Chuck said wheezing slightly and tried to catch his breath.

"Oh yeah! Daddy plays football with my every afternoon that he's not saving people." Jerry stated, immensely proud.

"I bet he does. I'm going to put you down now so I make sure my organs are all in good condition," Chuck said half-jokingly.

Jerry looked at Sarah and his face lit up again, not as much as it did when he saw Chuck but noticeably. "Sarah!" He ran over and hugged her around the knees. "I'm happy you came."

"Me too, Jerry," she said with a big smile.

Ellie put Emmy down and said, "Hey kiddo, why don't you take your cousin and go see your Uncle Devon. I need to talk to your Dad and Sarah alone."

Emmy looked a little disappointed, "Okay." Her face lit up again, "Where is Uncle Awesome?"

Ellie looked at Chuck and Sarah, who were trying to suppress giggles it looked like. "I think he's in Jerry's room. And please, Emmy, don't call him that."

Emmy smiled mischievously. Ellie gave her a look and Emmy nodded and ran off with Jerry to find her uncle, screaming the whole time, "Uncle Devon! Where you are?"

Ellie turned to Chuck and her face broke out into a huge smile, "I love your daughter Chuck."

"That makes two of us," Chuck responded, smiling. Sarah stayed quiet. "So what'd you wanna talk to us about, Sis?"

Ellie became serious, "I want to know if this is going to end up like last time. I want to know if you're gonna be moping around, being depressed, like the last time Sarah left."

Sarah answered first, "Not a chance, Ellie. This time around, everything is different. I came to L.A. planning to stay. Last time I was here, I could have been called away at any moment for an assignment." She decided that being honest was the right way to go with Ellie. Even if what Sarah was telling Ellie was all very vague.

"I, for one, am happy that Sarah is planning on settling down," Chuck said reassuringly.

Ellie was deep in thought for a few moments and then she said, "Okay Sarah, if you're going to be hanging round Chuck and Emmy often, please remember one thing."

"Yeah, what is it?"

"If you hurt Chuck or Emmy in any possible way, there won't be a place on the planet you'll be able to hide." Ellie said deadly calm. "I know Chuck still needs some time to recover from Laura's death. I assume he told you."

Chuck hung his head, unpleasant memories flooding back. Sarah noticed and put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. He put his hand on hers and rubbed it with his thumb. Sarah then looked at Ellie and nodded, answering her question. Ellie's face fell at how he was reacting. She went over and gave him a hug.

After a bit, Chuck said, "Thanks you two." He let go of Ellie and gave Sarah a warm smile. "When are we eating?" He asked excitedly.

Emmy's face hardened, "When your idiot best friend gets here with his wife!"

--

Half an hour later, the group was still at Ellie's waiting for Morgan and Anna to show up. Finally, there was a knock on the door and tardy couple came in. Emmy and Jerry were on the scene within an instant and did pretty much the same thing they do to greet someone they've known all their lives, jump at them. Except Morgan got jumped by both of them at the same time. Everyone laughed. Morgan spotted Sarah, his eyes bulged, he rubbed them, and looked again. His jaw dropped.

"Sarah?!" He stepped over to her.

Sarah nodded and then got nervous. Morgan was standing very close to her. She didn't know what he was planning to do. He poked her to make sure she was real, then a big grin plastered his face and he gave her a bear hug.

"It's so good to see you again! I thought after the break-up you'd never come back! You are back now right? You're not here to torture poor Chuck over there?"

"It's good to see you too, Morgan. Can you let me go? You're cutting off my oxygen!" she gasped. "And no, I'm staying here for the foreseeable future."

"Oh sorry," Morgan said sheepishly and then grinned from ear to ear. "Great! Sizzling Shrimp on me!"

Anna came over and smacked Morgan upside the head. She turned to Sarah, "It's good to see you again. I hope Morgan didn't make you feel awkward." She said the last bit with a look that said 'I'm sorry about that.'

"It's no trouble, really. To be honest, I missed everything that made this place what it is, including Morgan," Sarah said.

Anna smiled and gave her a hug. Sarah hugged back, even though it was odd since they were never really close enough for this. Anna let go and walked towards Morgan, who was chatting in a circle with everyone else. The kids were playing with some toys on the couch. Sarah had noticed something about the way Anna looked. And that's when it hit her. 'She's pregnant!' Sarah's face lit up.

Chuck called her over to the group where they talked a little bit about what the game plan was for the day. They broke and went about doing certain tasks that Ellie had assigned them. Ultimately the plan was for them to get out the door and to the beach. With everyone helping, they were done within the hour and headed out to have a fun day soaking up the sun and getting to know each other better.

'Yes,' Sarah thought. 'This will be an 'awesome' day…. Oh boy.'


End file.
